I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 904 

To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study to determine 

the feasibility of designating the study area as the Black Metropolis 

National Heritage Area in the State of Illinois, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 11, 2015 

Mr. RUSH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a 

study to determine the feasibility of designating the 

study area as the Black Metropolis National Heritage 

Area in the State of Illinois, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Black Metropolis Na5 tional Heritage Area Study Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) The Black Metropolis area on Chicago, Illi2 nois’ South Side has a cohesive and distinctive his3 tory as well as an important streetscape that distin4 guishes the area as worthy of designation as a Na5 tional Heritage Area. 

6 (2) The historic features of Chicago’s Black 

7 Metropolis predate the Great Migration of 1916– 

8 1919 and illustrate its influence on African-Amer9 ican life in Chicago and the Nation as a result of 

10 this demographic phenomenon in which 500,000 Af11 rican-Americans migrated to the North in search of 

12 work and other opportunities, with 50,000 of that 

13 aggregate relocating in Chicago. 

14 (3) The Black Metropolis, as a setting, wit15 nessed some of the finest accomplishments in Afri16 can-American contributions to Chicago, the State of 

17 Illinois, and the Nation, while its legally and socially 

18 proscribed citizens challenged their environment and 

19 their Nation to fulfill its promise as a place of op20 portunity for all. 

21 (4) These contributions and accomplishments 

22 fall into the following main categories: 

23 (A) BUSINESS AND ENTREPRENEURIAL

24 PURSUITS.—With State Street developing as 

25 the Black Metropolis’ ‘‘Wall Street’’, the area 


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1 produced two of the largest Black banking op2 erations in the Nation in the Binga State and 

3 Douglass National Banks and scores of smaller 

4 businesses ranging from print shops to res5 taurants to clothing stores to hair salons and 

6 barbershops. 

7 (B) CULTURE AND AESTHETICS.—The 

8 area emerged as a musical mecca ranging from 

9 jazz to gospel to delta and urban blues to 

10 rhythm and blues and was home for institutions 

11 such as the George Cleveland Hall Branch Li12 brary, which nurtured literary giants such as 

13 Langston Hughes, the South Side Community 

14 Arts Center, and the DuSable Museum of Afri15 can American History and Culture. 

16 (C) EDUCATION.—The area includes the 

17 first public secondary school in the State of Illi18 nois built specifically to accommodate the edu19 cational needs of African-American students, 

20 which opened in 1934 at 4934 South Wabash 

21 Avenue and was named in honor of Chicago’s 

22 first non-native inhabitant and trader, Jean 

23 Baptiste Pointe du Sable, a Black man from 

24 Haiti, and whose illustrious graduates include 


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1 Nat ‘‘King’’ Cole and Chicago Mayor Harold 

2 Washington. 

3 (D) GOVERNANCE AND POLITICS.—From 

4 its political bases in the area’s Second Ward 

5 and the First Congressional District, Chicago’s 

6 Black Metropolis proved itself a political center 

7 for all African-Americans, producing the first 

8 African-American to sit in Congress in the 20th 

9 century, the Honorable Oscar DePriest, as well 

10 as the first African-American Democratic con11 gressman, the Honorable Arthur W. Mitchell, 

12 succeeded by Honorable William L. Dawson, 

13 the Honorable Ralph H. Metcalfe, the Honor14 able Bennett M. Stewart, and the Honorable 

15 Harold Washington, later the city’s first elected 

16 African-American mayor, and the Honorable 

17 Charles A. Hayes. 

18 (E) HEALTH CARE.—The area includes 

19 Provident Hospital, founded in 1891 by the 

20 brilliant African-American surgeon, Dr. Daniel 

21 Hale Williams, and site of the first successful 

22 suturing of the human heart by Dr. Williams in 

23 1893. 

24 (F) LABOR.—The area was home to mil25 lions of unskilled and semi-skilled AfricanVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Feb 20, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H904.IH H904

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1 American workers, including the packinghouse 

2 workers who arrived during the Great Migra3 tion and constituted 25 percent of the stock4 yards work force during World War I, and the 

5 Pullman porters who represented a full 20 per6 cent of the Nation’s African-American work7 force during the early 1900s. 

8 (G) MILITARY LIFE AND PATRIOTISM.—Af9 rican-American men enlisted in the Union Army 

10 on the grounds of Camp Douglass within the 

11 Black Metropolis area as part of the 29th In12 fantry Regiment of the United States Colored 

13 Troops, and a generation later trained at the 

14 Eighth Regiment Armory nearby before em15 barking for France as part of what President 

16 Wilson referred to as the great crusade to 

17 ‘‘make the world safe for democracy’’ during 

18 World War I. 

19 (H) RECREATION AND COMPETITIVE

20 SPORTS.—Early on, the Nation’s most popular 

21 sports (baseball, boxing, football, track and bas22 ketball) enjoyed support from the Black Me23 tropolis’ population and drew participants who 

24 earned widespread recognition such as Rube 

25 Foster, a native Chicagoan, who founded the 


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1 Negro Baseball League and its local team, the 

2 American Giants. 

3 (I) RELIGION AND CHURCH ACTIVISM.— 

4 The area includes Quinn Chapel African Meth5 odist Episcopal (A.M.E) Church, an antebellum 

6 center of abolitionist activity, and a major sta7 tion on the Underground Railroad, and with 

8 emancipation, there was another religious move9 ment to provide and protect the civil rights of 

10 all citizens led by Black Metropolis churches 

11 such as Quinn Chapel and Bethel A.M.E. 

12 (J) SOCIAL JUSTICE AND CIVIL RIGHTS.— 

13 It was from within the Black Metropolis area in 

14 the early 20th century that Ida B. Wells15 Barnett waged her crusade for justice for Afri16 can-Americans and women and worked to es17 tablish the first National Association for the 

18 Advancement of Colored People branch in that 

19 group’s national network in 1912. 

20 (K) STREETSCAPES.—The area includes 

21 many historic locations, including those along 

22 State Street and 35th Street, ranging from the 

23 Overton Hygienic Manufacturing Building at 

24 3617 South State Street and the Chicago Bee 

25 Building at 3647 South State Street (both desVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:19 Feb 20, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H904.IH H904

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1 ignated as Chicago City Landmarks) to Liberty 

2 Life Insurance Company at 3501 South Park3 way and a monument and park dedicated to 

4 United States Senator Stephen Douglas (des5 ignated as a State Landmark) at Lake Park 

6 Avenue and 35th Street, green and public 

7 spaces, stretching from Chicago’s lakefront to 

8 historic park and boulevard systems to the 

9 West, and is now the proposed site for the 2016 

10 Olympics in the City of Chicago’s bid to host 

11 this event. 

12 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

13 In this Act: 

14 (1) HERITAGE AREA.—The term ‘‘Heritage 

15 Area’’ means the Black Metropolis National Herit16 age Area. 

17 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

18 the Secretary of the Interior. 

19 (3) STUDY AREA.—The term ‘‘study area’’ 

20 means the region bounded as follows: 

21 (A) 18th Street on the North and 22nd 

22 Street on the South, from Lake Michigan on 

23 the East to Wentworth Avenue to the West. 

24 (B) 22nd Street on the North to 35th 

25 Street on the South, from Lake Michigan on 


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1 the East to the Dan Ryan Expressway on the 

2 West. 

3 (C) 35th Street on the North and 47th 

4 Street on the South, from Lake Michigan on 

5 the East to the B&O Railroad (Stewart Ave6 nue) on the West. 

7 (D) 47th Street on the North to 55th 

8 Street on the South, from Cottage Grove Ave9 nue on the East to the Dan Ryan Expressway 

10 on the West. 

11 (E) 55th Street on the North to 67th 

12 Street on the South, from State Street on the 

13 West to Cottage Grove Avenue/South Chicago 

14 Avenue on the East. 

15 (F) 67th Street on the North to 71st 

16 Street on the South, from Cottage Grove Ave17 nue/South Chicago Avenue on the West to the 

18 Metra Railroad tracks on the East. 

19 SEC. 4. BLACK METROPOLIS NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA 

20 STUDY. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consultation 

22 with the managers of any Federal land within the Herit23 age Area, appropriate State and local governmental agen24 cies, and any interested organizations, shall conduct a 


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1 study to determine the feasibility of designating the study 

2 area as the Black Metropolis National Heritage Area. 

3 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—The study shall include anal4 ysis, documentation, and determinations on whether— 

5 (1) the study area— 

6 (A) has an assemblage of natural, historic, 

7 cultural, educational, scenic, or recreational re8 sources that together are nationally important 

9 to the heritage of the United States; 

10 (B) represents distinctive aspects of the 

11 heritage of the United States worthy of recogni12 tion, conservation, interpretation, and con13 tinuing use; 

14 (C) is best managed through agreements 

15 between public and private entities at the local 

16 or regional level; 

17 (D) reflects traditions, customs, beliefs, 

18 and folklife that are a valuable part of the her19 itage of the United States; 

20 (E) provides outstanding opportunities to 

21 conserve natural, historical, cultural, or scenic 

22 features; 

23 (F) provides outstanding recreational and 

24 educational opportunities; and 


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1 (G) has resources and traditional uses that 

2 have national importance; 

3 (2) residents, business interests, nonprofit orga4 nizations, the Federal Government (including rel5 evant Federal land management agencies), and 

6 State, local, and tribal governments within the study 

7 area— 

8 (A) are involved in the planning; and 

9 (B) have demonstrated significant support 

10 through letters and other means for designation 

11 and management of the Heritage Area; and 

12 (3) the study area has been identified and sup13 ported by the public, private business, and local and 

14 State agencies. 

15 SEC. 5. REPORT. 

16 Not later than 3 fiscal years after the date on which 

17 funds are made available to carry out this Act, the Sec18 retary shall submit to the Committee on Natural Re19 sources of the House of Representatives and the Com20 mittee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate 

21 a report that describes the findings, conclusions, and rec22 ommendations of the Secretary with respect to the study. 

Æ 


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